PUBLISHED BY SOYBEAN GROWERS FOR THE FEED INDUSTRY OCTOBER 2006
     
 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has increased their estimate of the 2006 soybean crop to 3.2 billion bushels based on a predicted harvesting 74.5 million acres and an average yield of 42.8 bushels per acre. These estimates are still tentative and subject to change based on the weather during the next few weeks; too much rain could increase harvest losses, so the final estimate of the 2006 crop will be determined later.

USDA has also increased the prospects for export sales of soybeans based on increased production and import demand. A detailed report of the 2006 soybean production and utilization will be in the next Soybean Meal INFOsource newsletter.
 
Soybean Meal Production,
Domestic Use and Exports
Year Soybean Meal Production Domestic Use Exports
(1,000 short tons)
1994/95 33,270 26,542 6,717
1995/96 32,527 26,611 6,002
1996/97 34,209 27,322 6,990
1997/98 36,870 30,000 6,800
1998/99 37,792 30,657 7,122
1999/00 37,591 30,345 7,332
2000/01 39,486 31,684 7,662
2001/02 40,292 33,077 7,508
2002/03 38,213 32,380 6,013
2003/04 36,325 31,499 5,170
2004/05 40,715 33,561 7,340
2005/06(*) 41,013 33,400 7,650
2006/07(**) 42,285 34,100 8,350
(*) Estimate
(**) Projection
Reference; USDA/ERS/WASDE Report 439, October 12, 2006
 
 
NIRS Analysis of Soybean Meal
A recent paper in Feedstuffs discussed near-infrared spectrophotometry (NIRS) analyses of amino acids in soybean meal. The authors provided charts showing the variation in crude protein, lysine and methionine samples in 48% soybean meal obtained from commercial sources. They also provided regression equations for predicting lysine, methionine, methionine/cysteine and threonine from crude protein. These equations provide correlation coefficients values of 0.61-20.77 that indicate high correlations with analytical values. The regression equations cited were:
   
% Methionine = percent crude protein x 0.0171 - 0.163 r = 0.61
% Methionine plus cysteine = percent crude protein x 0.0321 - 0.164 r = 0.65
% Lysine = percent crude protein x 0.0508 + 0.432 r = 0.67
% Threonine = percent crude x 0.0368 + 0.090 r = 0.77
 
 
The authors point out that the predicted values are in the middle of the range for analytical values with values occurring higher and lower than the predicted value. They made a strong argument for using their NIRS calibrations to rapidly and accurately analyze the amino acid content of soybean meal and other feedstuffs. They indicated that accurate analytical values for amino acids for each ingredient shipment offers the nutritionist an opportunity for possible savings in feed ingredient costs by more precisely meeting the nutritional targets.

Jonathan Goodson, J. Fontaine and B. Schirmer. 2006. NIRS analysis leads to formulation savings. Feedstuffs, July 24, p16-17
 
Turn Page PRINTABLE TEXT VERSION
The SOYBEAN MEAL INFORMATION CENTER is sponsored by the Soybean Checkoff: Including the checkoff boards from, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky and the United Soybean Board